Businesses in the auto parts recondition industry recognize the constant need for producing accurately honed automotive motor cylinders. The machine industry producing the machines for this reconditioning industry continuously seeks machines, methods and systems for increasing the accuracy, efficiency and ease of producing accurately reconditioned automotive parts and increased productivity.
Typically, the small businesses which recondition automobile engines and make other automotive repairs have a need for honing machines and reboring machines which have the capability of ease of operation by an operator. These machines should be capable of long term operation and manual application of the honing device to the automotive cylinder by operators who have relatively little experience operating machines.
Because of the nature of the wear encountered in used automotive motors, the honing machines used in such shops should incorporate a system having a dwell capability. This permits the operator to cause the honing head to dwell at the bottom of the cylinder in order to get a uniform and true cylinder. It is well known in the industry that an automotive cylinder wears in a tapered shape. Most of the wear taking place at the top of the cylinder and relatively less of the wear occuring at the bottom of the cylinder. Accordingly, the honing machine used to "true" the cylinder walls must have the capability of dwelling slightly longer at the bottom of the cylinder to remove more of the cylinder wall at that point in order to produce a quality refinished product. Therefore, the operator should have the capability of maintaining the honing tool in contact with the lower part of the cylinder wall for a predetermined period of time during the stroke of the honing tool.
The prior art has attempted to provide machines of this type with varying degrees of success. Certain of these machines have provided systems that are quite complicated and expensive and in many cases are much more complicated and expensive than desirable for these small reconditioning establishments. An example of such a honing machine is illustrated by U.S. Pat. No. 4,189,871. Much of the prior art, including the referenced patent, provide systems which incorporate complicated control systems that nevertheless tend to be difficult to balance and control by hand operation. Many of these machines do not have the capability of precision control of the stroking phase of the machine nor are they capable of the required dwell for producing accurate and precision reconditioning of cylindrical surfaces.